Implementing the new partnership for Africa's development (NEPAD) : challenges and prospects

Abstract

The study exammes the challenges and prospects of implementing the New Partnership for Africa's Development in Africa. Relying on qualitative and quantitative research designs and deploying key assumptions of dependency theory as framework, the research concludes that these challenges are not only structural, endogenous and exogenous, but the ideological underpinnings of the conceptualisation has rendered the implementation of NEP AD incomplete and unproductive. The key finding of the research is that no single country can push for the full implementation of NEP AD without the rest of the countries in Africa. This is part of the missing link, where support for a continental plan like NEP AD has had to suffer failure. Besides, though paraded as a partnership, the underlying philosophy is to perpetuate existing unequal relations between Africa and the developed countries in view of Africa's post-coloniality. The study suggests that the concept of African Renaissance, which conveys a deep desire for Africa's re-birth might be a better way of approaching the development of the continent.